The effects of China’s Grain for Green program on migration and remittance

Abstract

The Grain for Green (GfG) is the largest reforestation program of the world. It involved payments to farmers to convert their marginal farmland. Many farmers decided to migrate. This paper looks at some of the household features associated with migration by GfG-participants, and the importance of remittances to those who remained behind. Fieldwork for this research was carried out in Pengshui County in Chongqing Municipality. Several variables affect migration, including education, land ownership and household size. For most households, remittances consist of over 90 percent of all household incomes, but the amount remitted tends to level off when it reaches a certain size, regardless of the number of household members who migrated.